The Red Line

“His heartbeat’s really strong,” the medic said. “But he’s got to be badly dehydrated. How long’s it been since the attack?”

“Twenty-six hours,” someone in the crowd volunteered.

“We need to check him real close for shock and exposure,” the other medic said.

“Let’s get him into the ambulance and get an IV in him,” the first medic said. “Then why don’t you look him over real good while I climb back down into the basement to see if there’s any chance the person they spotted next to where the baby was found is still alive.”

The seven rescuers watched as the whimpering child was taken to the ambulance. Each felt a soaring roller coaster of emotions rush through them at incalculable speed. Their pride spewed forth. It swelled in their chests and burst into their battered brains. For the rest of their existence, they’d know they’d saved a life. But at the same time, they also understood that more than twenty others, dead or alive, were still buried beneath the unyielding jumble of the demolished building.

Their herculean task had a long way to go.

By the time the medic returned to the abyss, the sergeant major and the teenage boy had uncovered the area around the outstretched arm. The rest of Kathy’s body remained securely encased in its tomb of suffocating wreckage. The rescuers were unable to see anything in the devastation beyond the exposed limb.

“It’s got to be Kathy,” Williams said.

“You know who it is, Sergeant Major?” the boy asked.

“Yeah, it’s got to be Christopher’s mother, Kathy O’Neill. She and her husband lived across the hall from us on the second floor.”

The medic took his stethoscope and held it on Kathy’s bluish forearm. He listened for a second and pulled it away. He quickly placed it back on the outstretched arm. This time he listened for what seemed an eternity.

“My God,” the medic said, “I’ve got a pulse. It’s weak, but I’m certain I heard it. Whoever’s under there is alive.”

Harold Williams struggled with the medic’s startling news. The wonderful possibilities created by the medic’s surprising revelation were unmistakable. If Kathy’s alive, there’s hope for the rest. If Kathy’s alive, his family could be, too. There was one thing the sergeant major realized with resounding clarity. Dead or alive, he wouldn’t allow himself a minute’s rest until he’d accounted for everyone buried in this unspeakable place.

“Are you sure?” the sergeant major asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure. Listen for yourself.”

He handed Williams the stethoscope. The medic helped him place the instrument on Kathy’s arm. The sergeant major held his breath and listened.

There it was. The heartbeat was weak but definitely present. A wide grin spread across Williams’s dirt-streaked face.

“What are we waiting for! There’s another one down here to save!”

“We’d better hurry, Sergeant Major,” the medic said. “It doesn’t sound like she can last much longer.”

The word spread through the crowd like a lightning bolt. Another one down there to save. There were eighty eager hands grasping at the edge of the hole, each wanting to be a part of the miraculous rescue. It was, however, still the sergeant major’s show.

He surveyed the task in front of them.

“We’ve got to get this beam off her first.”

After many hours of laborious practice, the boy had become an expert at judging the effort involved in clearing the next rubble pile.

“Probably take a dozen of us to get something that big out of here and up to ground level.”

The sergeant major turned to the crowd. “Carefully, very carefully, I need twelve people to climb down and help us clear this beam away. Then I need another group at the edge of the pit to lift it out of here once we get it up to you.”

A dozen people, women and teenagers mostly, climbed into the hole.

“Careful,” Williams said, “careful where you walk. There may be other survivors down here.” The hope in his voice was genuine.

The group set about the onerous task. They had to hurry. But one mistake could be fatal. They warily freed the rubble from around the ancient beam. Then, with the sergeant major as their anchor, the group put their backs into it. Ever so slowly, the giant monolith rose from the grave. The end nearest Kathy’s arm was raised a few feet into the air. The sergeant major slipped beneath the twelve-hundred-pound slab. With his broad back in place, he guaranteed that no matter what it took, the beam would never be allowed to return to the pile.

Others rushed into the space the sergeant major had created. The slab was torturously lifted from the ground. With all their might, the group succeeded in propping the imposing pillar against the side of the hole. From there it was easy. Above them, twenty-five sets of hands clawed for a firm grip on the monolith. The massive beam was dragged up to ground level and pushed aside. The last impediment to Kathy’s rescue had disappeared.

“Great job! Great job!” Williams said.

Their task completed, the twelve climbed back out of the basement.

The medic and the teenage boy went to work clearing the area above Kathy’s arm. The sergeant major went after where he expected Kathy’s legs to be.

In ten minutes, the job was completed.

“Jesus!” the sergeant major said. “Get over here quick.”

One look at Kathy’s leg and the medic knew what they faced. The leg was severely twisted. A razor-sharp piece of jagged bone was sticking through the skin just below her right knee.

“Man,” the medic said, “that’s the worst-looking compound fracture I’ve ever seen.”

The boy had just finished uncovering Kathy’s head.

“You’d better take a look at this, too.”

The medic examined the area where Kathy’s head had suffered the greatest blow from the falling beam.

“Looks like a possible skull fracture,” the medic said.

The coagulated blood in Kathy’s once-beautiful hair was thick and matted.

“Nasty gash to the back of her head. Going to take a lot of stitches to sew that up. I need a stretcher and some splints down here right away!” the medic yelled to those at ground level.

“Is she gonna make it?” the boy asked.

“I don’t know. She’s in pretty bad shape, and she’s obviously lost a lot of blood. There’s the stretcher. Can you get it for me? I want to look her over real close before we try to move her.”

“Sure,” the boy said. He picked his way through the rubble to the side of the hole. The stretcher was passed down.

The medic began a further examination, checking her arms and left leg. Next came the torso.

“Oh, no.”

“What?” the sergeant major said. He barely recognized the unconscious rag doll of a person lying on the cold cement. This couldn’t possibly be the pretty young woman so full of life he’d last seen just yesterday morning.

“I think her back’s broken,” the medic said.

“Are you sure?”

“No, I’m not. I won’t be until we get her out of here and up to the ambulance, where I can get a better look at what we face. Tell Bill to get an IV and a backboard down here as soon as he can!”

Moments later, Laurie scrambled into the pit with a backboard, IV, and a long needle.

“Stay here, Laurie,” Williams said. “It’ll probably take four of us to maneuver the backboard through this maze once we get her on it. Do you think you can handle the job?”

The girl stared at Kathy’s twisted form. She nodded yes.

“First the IV,” the medic said. “After that, I’ll need to immobilize her leg before we try to do anything else. We don’t dare turn her over. Once I get her leg ready, we’ll strap the backboard on her as she lies. If her back’s broken, we can’t move her until she’s securely strapped onto

the board. One mistake, and we could paralyze her for life.”

The medic gripped the IV bag in his teeth. He bent down and found himself an inviting vein. He jabbed the needle into her arm. Satisfied with the IV’s placement, he taped it in place.

“Laurie, come over here and hold the IV while I immobilize her leg,” the medic said.

The girl took the IV from the medic.

“Hold it up high enough that it doesn’t get tangled and stop flowing.”

“Okay.”

The medic started working on the fracture. Where the sharp piece of splintered bone had pierced the skin, it protruded two inches outside the leg.

The medic placed a slat on each side of the shattered leg.

“Sergeant Major, I’ll need you to give me a hand with this.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Hold the splints in place while I wrap them.”

It didn’t take long to complete the job. “That’ll have to do,” the medic said. “I think it’ll stay together until we can get her to the field hospital. Now comes the fun part.”

“What do we do next?”

“We’ve got to strap the backboard on her tightly. Once that’s done, we’ll lift her straight up, turn her over, and carry her out. If all goes well, we won’t kill her in the process. Sergeant Major, you and Ryan get on the other side. I’ll thread the straps under her. You’ll have to reach beneath her body and pull them through.”

The medic picked up the backboard. He covered Kathy with it. Satisfied with the board’s positioning, he knelt and inched the first strap beneath her legs.

“Put your hand under her legs real careful there, Ryan, and pull the strap through.”

The boy reached under Kathy’s legs and located the strap. “I’ve got it.”